Analisia had her teeth examined Tuesday at Kentwood Head Start in a collaboration between Cherry Street Health Services and Michigan Family Resources to provide dental services for children entering Head Start this fall.

If you go

Clinics are giving some preschool children dental checkups 

Who: Children who have applied to be in Head Start in the fall. 

How: Call Michigan Family Resources at 453-4145 and ask for enrollment services. 

This is the second year for the organizations to provide dental exams and cleanings, with about 500 examinations expected this year. Last year, the organizations performed 200 exams.

Aubrey Warfield, a dental assistant educator with Cherry Street, estimated they would see about 60 children Tuesday. Students are eligible for the screenings if they have applied to start the Head Start program in the fall and if they need a dentist.

"The clinics are set up primarily for families who don't have a dental home or dental care," Mary Hockwalt, executive director for Michigan Family Resources, said.

After the children are examined by Cherry Street, that facility becomes their dental home, Hockwalt said.

The children range in age from 2 to 5. The clinics are set up at Head Start, to help ease fears the children may experience at a dentist's office, Kooiker said.

"The kids need to have a dental exam and a medical exam before they start school," Warfield said. "Most kids have a pediatrician, but most 3-year-olds don't have a dentist."

In examining 3-year-old Janai York, Kooiker found a few small cavities.

"They're not big holes, so we can fix them," Kooiker told her mother, Mercedes Randolph, of Kentwood. Janai seemed more excited about the pony sticker she got to pick out than being finished.

After the exam, the parents schedule the children to return to Head Start for a dental cleaning.

If the parents have insurance or Medicaid, Cherry Street will bill for the exams and cleaning. If the children are not insured, the organization has grants to cover the exams and cleanings at no cost to the parents. If the child is sent to the Cherry Street facility for a follow-up, such as a filling, the clinic charges parents on a sliding fee scale, based on income.

Randolph said she was shocked that Janai had some cavities but glad the clinic made it easy to get her teeth checked.

"It's convenient, especially because I have Medicaid, and it's hard to get my baby in to see a dentist," she said.